A Glorious Run

A week ago Saturday, 4/27, 6 of us “ran” in the MMRF Race for Research at Carson Beach in South Boston.  It was a wonderful morning and a great place for a race.  We ran out for 2.5 kilometers along a road paralleling the beach and back on the other side of the same street, so you always knew exactly where you were on the course.  The race is sponsored by some pharmaceutical companies and co-chaired by two prominent Boston Multiple Myeloma doctors.  One was the Dana Farber doctor we went to for a second opinion last June, Dr Jacob Laubach.  The turnout for the race was incredible.  Over 1400 people had signed up, and there were certainly lots of people there.  The race results shows the times for 507 participants, but I suspect many of the walkers did not actually wear the pinnies that contained the electronic strip that actuated the timer.

Here are the Stow participants in the race, holding the Stow Independent, for submission to the local paper:

Actually, Wally, the one to the right didn’t run with us, but he was quick to include himself in pictures.

Here is the full team: Sharon Quinn (Bridget’s mother), Bridget (Brian’s wife), Brendan Jones (in the stroller), Brian, Barbie, myself, and Arnie Epstein.

Bridget said that Brendan beat her across the finish line.

I shuffled along at a 9:53 per mile pace, which was just about as fast as I could manage.  Arnie & I finished within a second of one another, coming in 3^rd & 4^th in the over-65 male category.  I am sure I was slowing Arnie down as we ran together, but he claims otherwise.  Considering that in December it was a major accomplishment for me to complete a walk of less than that distance around Jamaica Pond from Brian & Bridget’s house, I was pleased with the result.

Even more impressive are the fund-raising totals.  The team has already raised $4,500!  Plus I know of another check on its way to the MMRF and a company match that should put us really close to $5,000!  Incredible!  It brings tears to my eyes to think that people would be so generous in my name.  Truly humbling.  Not to beat a dead horse, but if you just forgot, support.themmrf.org/goto/GregsLegs will accept donations until 12/31/13.

This blog post is late because Barbie & I left the afternoon right after the race for a wedding in Tuscon, Arizona.  The granddaughter of our landlord in Tehran, Nassim Mody, married Kevin Coogan on Sunday, 4/28.  It was both a western wedding and an Iranian wedding.  Most of the family was there, and it was great to catch up with them after 35 years!  We surprised ourselves by how much Farsi we remembered.  The family is both gorgeous and impressive.  All are highly educated and 8 of the 10 in the grandchildren generation are girls.  Each of the twin girls in the landlord’s family had twin girls themselves.  We really enjoyed hearing how the girls in the Zandion family remembered their interactions with us and how they looked up to Barbie as a role model.  Here are the bridesmaids in the wedding, all cousins of the bride:

We stayed at a hotel that is part of a retirement/golf community south of Tuscon.  We really see no need to retire to a desert where the afternoon temperature is 98 at the end of April.